Crush

 Character Analysis 

• Specificity 
• Crush is similar to Marlin in Finding Nemo, because they're both dads with young kids living in the dangerous ocean, but what makes Crush different from Marlin is that he lets his child handle his own problems. Whereas Marlin is very paranoid/concerned about what Nemo does, because of his past experiences. 
• Name - Crush or Dude

• Gender - Male
• Age - 150 Years Old
• Ethnicity - N/A
• Family - Squirt (his son) Mr. Turtle (his dad)
• Cultural Background - N/A
• Intelligence - Knows a lot about turtles and the currents. 
• Education - N/A
• Occupation - Father
• Religion/Philosophy - He lets his kid solves problems on his own then praises him once accomplishing it.
• Sexual Orientation - Straight
• Goals, Ambitions, Dreams - Raise his son
• Issues - N/A
• Secrets N/A
• Fears/Phobias - His children not making it to the ocean shore. 
• Sense of Humor - Very chill-like. Acts like a surfer dude. 
• Adrenaline Moments - When they take the exit to EAC, it speeds up. 
• Physical Description - Green sea turtle with a brownish and yellow shell.
• Physical Disabilities, If any - N/A
• Actions - Helps Marlin and Dory reach EAC, praises his son for handling a problem on his own, rides the current. 

• Intention - Crush's intention is to show Marlin that as a Father it isn't ok to worry about every single thing your child does. Crush says "When they know they're ready then you'll know that they're ready" Crush says to basically put more trust into your child and the way you raised them. As we know Marlin is very paranoid about Nemo and wants nothing but to protect him. 

• Subtext - Marlin: b-but dude. How do you know when they're ready? (Marlin showing his paranoia/worrying.)

                          Crush: Well.. You never really know. When they know you'll know, ya know? (Crush showing Marlin how he should trust his son more or to go with the flow) 

• Execution - In the acting you can hear in the voices the care Marlin has and the Trust Crust has in his own advice. The animation shown, you can see Marlin nod his head and agree with Crush. The animation also shows the bond between Crush and his son Squirt 

• Caricature - Crush's eyes are always half squinted or almost closed. Even when he is talking loud or excited. This can show his chilled, more laidback attitude. 

Power Centers

Since Crush is a turtle, he doesn't have many expressive moving parts on his body. What he uses are his fins, head/neck, and facial expressions. After realizing this, I was able to notice the frequent times he would use his head/neck as a power center for his poses. 

Gestures

Crush makes many gestures in this sequence, but we all know him for his famous laid back and eyes barley open gesture. If you notice, most of the turtles have the same gesture going on and this is because when sea turtles eat jellyfishes the poison inside them doesn't harm the sea turtles, but instead makes them intoxicated similar to the effects of marijuana on a human. 

Poses

These poses are good, because they tell all sides of crush in some simple poses. The first one is when Crush is telling Marlin to observe what happens when you let your kid handle their problems on their own. You can see how confident Crush is in his son which is something Marlin lacks. 

In this frame we see Crush showing off what he is most famous for, which is his nonchalant and go-with-the-flow-attitude. 

This frame shows how excited and proud Crush is of his son Squirt. Crush not only sets an example for Marlin, but also supports his son. This is a rare pose for Crush, because as you can see, his excitement opened his eyes all the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FNHtNEshk8 

Starts at 2:50

Gladiator- Maximus Decimus Meridius

Character Analysis

Name: Maximus Decimus Meridius
Gender:  Male
Age:  40 died AD 190

   
Ethnicity                                

Spaniard
Family                                    

Wife and son (deceased)
Cultural background             

 farmer, General, confidant, gladiator
Intelligence (IQ)                  

known to be an impressive general and tactician

Education                                

No college
Occupation                             

Farmer/General/gladiator
Religion/Philosophy               

Polytheistic
Sexual orientation                  

Straight
Goals, ambition, dreams       

 survive the war, return to his family after learning  of their death and being picked up and becoming  a slave earns his way back to Rome before getting vengeance. 

                                                              

Secrets                                  

was set to become emperor but turned it down, knew that Marcus Aurelius' was killed by Commodus kept his identity a secret till Commodus threatened him in the colosseum

 
Fears/Phobias                        

Losing the love of his wife and kids and not being able to find them in there        afterlife or die without getting revenge.

Sense of humor                     

he does have a few jokes and japs with his friends 

Physical description              

stocky and muscular 
Physical disabilities, if any    

none applicable

Action                                    

a warrior a farmer and a father. he commands legions with ease. study tactics    and had skill in single and team combat.

Character Pose - in all of these we see his center of power is his chest.

"Are you not entertained" iconic line. chest open head stable

the interesting gesture here really sets the mood for his character arc. this is the middle of the film where he has become a gladiator. no rank.

in the opening scene we see a different side of him. humble and a leader of men. at the beginning of the film he is a high ranking general who attends to Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

in his final moments after he gets revenge and see's his allies freed. he dies having kept his promise and goes to seek his wife and child in the after life. his stance is relaxed happy bringing closure to his heart.

this is one of the most impacting moments in the story. Commodus who had tried to have Decimus killed. see's him and goes pale Decimus then begins to describe who he is and the fear instilled in Commodus is palpable. in this moment we see why Decimus survived. the timing of his arrival and subsequent. battles that follow serve the purpose of deposing a tyrant and getting revenge for his family and mentor.

Intentions

What is the message or emotion you are communicating in the scene?

What are your choices?

in this scene we see Maximus come face to face with the man who killed his Emperor Marcus Aurelius. had his wife and child murdered and tried to have him killed you can sense the hatred in his voice as he tells Commodus his name.

Subtext

The implicit meaning of a character or scene

Body acting and speech could contrast each other

in this scene we see Maximus ready to dispatch his target. then he see's Lucius and seems to hesitate when addressed he gives a vague answer. before turning away in direct defiance.

I will settle this score ( I will kill Commodus)

servant of the true emperor Marcus Aurelius' (I don't  consider you emperor Usurper)

Specificity

Knowing your character, conveying the intent in a way that is unique to them.

The Gladiator has come full circle.

Execution

Posing, Arcs, Polish, Mechanics

Animation 

Acting choices 

we see Maximus go through several arcs. as a general in the north to a suspected murderer and ultimately a gladiator.

Caricature

Exaggerate to communicate and simplify the action

Acting choices

My Life is a Tragedy but I will be with my family soon (I've only this one task left in my life and i will see it done)

you can hear the pain and hatred in his voice.

Gesture

direct eye contact head held high confident.

we see Commodus reaction to his face being revealed.

you can see the rage seething off of him. chest calm and steady.

measured steps good pacing solid eye contact.

rage builds you can see he has a singular goal in mind.

the build up here is incredible.

Gesture comparison 

one of the more iconic lines in the movie

here we see a spartan from the Halo series delivering the same line.

Both show confident people and taunting poses. for Maximus the consequences of this could have been deadly. the spartan is more relaxed since he is hidden behind armor. high tension moment.

Garden Party Analysis

 Garden Party

1.   Progression (Links to an externa

• The beginning of Garden party has several frogs and toads basking in a poolside area. 
• slowly they begin to find their way into a dilapidated manor . 
• exploring areas of a large home where bullet holes and strewn about clothes scattered around the home show signs of something more sinister has happened. 
• The frogs and toads make themselves at home and indulge 

2.   Conflict

• there isn't much in the way of conflict aside from the trials and tribulations the frogs find themselves in.
• there's conflict that isn't shown but the remnants of it bullet holes, 

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3.   Characters

There are several different characters for this short.

• Sleek green frog

• large toad

• speckled large toad
• A clear objective to eat all the sweets in the abandoned kitchen.  

• small hunting frog

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4.   Surprise. 

• Our first surprise comes from this frame where it shows a damaged security camera which is then followed by a ominous piano key. This builds more mystery on what happened to or what this mansion has in store. 

 

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5.   Timing of information.

• The timing is pretty back and forth. It goes from showing these happy frogs just living out their everyday life to this mystery mansion with suspenseful music playing. We are curious about what the frogs are doing while also wondering what the mystery behind this mansion is. 

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6.   Novelty (Links to an external site.)

•    The novelty of 'Garden Party' is as basic as it gets, which adds to its simplistic appeal. There isn't an immediate message or poignant gimmick, it is simply frogs communing in a dead guy's mansion. The main novelty or punchline is the reveal of the dead man in the pool; this reveal had been teased throughout the  short, with the bullet holes in the security camera and window, along with the gun next to the broken-into safe. The entire short is almost a slight to most other animated shorts which typically have a meaning or moral, in that the only thing that really matters is a bunch of frogs just hanging out, and the 'murder mystery' is simply a lingering side-story that the audience pieces together. The juxtaposition between the adorably  frogs and the grizzly murder makes for a very entertaining story.

7.   Visual Flow 

• The short film starts with beautiful shots of the sleek green frog adventuring through nature and a large curious toad following from behind. 

• They arrive at a mansion where it looks like a giant party was recently hosted. 

• The green frog enters the master bedroom and we can see clothes, shoes, and belts on the ground in a pile, so the audience can assume that there was a lot of activity happening in the mansion. 

• Mystery starts to build once the security camera is shown with bullet holes in it, but it is later overlooked after the small hunting frog jumps into frame trying to catch a butterfly. This takes the audiences attention away from the mystery back to the happy frogs living their own little lives. 

• Things start to get intense when the music picks up and the camera shows the broken door lock and bullet holes in the door

• The camera then pans away to the frog hunting the butterfly again to distract us away from the real mystery here. 
• This is done pretty frequently throughout the short film where at one moment we are enjoying the cute frogs living out their normal lives and then out of no where we are given a tense scene where us as an audience can tell that something unusual happened here while the frogs are completely unaware. This builds mystery to keep the audience engaged. 
  

• With these provided frames, we can now assume that this wasn't just some giant house party. There seems to have been some sort of shootout. This adds more mystery on what happened to this house and keeps the audience engaged wanting to know more. 

• The frog chasing the butterfly then jumps on a bunch of buttons uniformed that he is turning on music, lights, and the pool fountains, bringing the house back to life. A happy song is playing and frogs from all around are gathering at the mansion. The camera then cuts to the pool which a dead rotting body is revealed sprouting from the pools fountain. The music still is playing a happy song which gives a good example of "soundtrack dissonance". One mans murder became a party for frogs.